‘I am leaving the club with a free heart, knowing I have given everything..’
WASPS LEGEND JOHNSON HAS NO REGRETS AFTER JOINING MOSELEY AS A PLAYER/COACH
I always look at the positive side of it. I was lucky, for the large part of my career I was injury free. Ashley Johnson
IN any other season Ashley Johnson would have received the send-off he deserved. The Ricoh Arena crowd, complete with adoring fans in Afro wigs, cheering in recognition of a player who will go down as a Wasps great.
Instead, the coronavirus pandemic left the South African hovering two games short of reaching a 200-appearance milestone and, like so many professional rugby players in the past couple of months, left his employers without any compelling fanfare.
Eight years of blood, sweat and tears in Black and Gold, starting in London before migrating north to Coventry in 2014, and it was all over for the 34-year-old when his final contract with the club expired last month. But you won’t catch him lamenting on what might have been.
“It would’ve been great to get to that milestone but at the same time, I was fortunate to play 198 games,” said Johnson, who joined from the Cheetahs in 2012.
“I always look at the positive side of it. I was lucky, for the large part of my career I was injury free. I got the opportunity to put the jersey on and I am happy with how I left the jersey. I gave everything every time I got the opportunity to put it on. I am leaving the jersey and the club with a free heart, knowing that I have given everything that I could possibly give.”
The summer of 2020 isn’t a great time for a rugby player to be out of contract, with clubs tightening their belts having had revenues streams depleted by the global pandemic.
While interest at the top level in Johnson’s services were not forthcoming, he did receive approaches from his homeland at the Bulls, before opting to join nearby Birmingham Moseley as a player/coach.
“I had an opportunity to go back to South Africa,” said the three times capped Springbok. “We made a family decision to stay around here, do what is best for the kids. It was a tough decision, I’ll be honest, to be able to still play Super Rugby and then obviously the Lions tour next year as well. I am at peace with it, I was happy to make that decision. I have no regrets, hopefully we will have a good season at Moseley.”
Moseley, a powerful club in rugby’s amateur years, now reside in the third tier of English rugby in National League One and narrowly avoided relegation last term. They do boast a strong management set-up that includes former Leicester Tigers and Gloucester forward Adam Balding, as director of rugby, and the highlyrespected talents of Pete Glackin, as head coach. For Johnson, the lure of Billesley Common was strong for a number of reasons.
“I’m going to enjoy training parttime,” he joked. “The big draw card was them giving me the coaching opportunity, I’ll be taking care of the forwards and hopefully taking care of the defence as well. It’s a great opportunity at Nat One to start your coaching career. Pete Glackin is a level five coach, he’s a great coach, Adam Balding has been around and is a great DOR. It will be awesome to learn from these guys and draw from their knowledge and put my own spin on things.”
In his final season at Wasps, Johnson found his playing opportunities were limited. His six starts all came in cup competitions and he made just three Premiership substitute appearances. While he is dropping down two levels to play his rugby, Johnson is entering a division that includes 30 matches per season and contains ambitious clubs with a large geographical spread from Plymouth Albion in the south to Darlington Mowden Park in the north.
“I wouldn’t have signed if I didn’t think I could add some value on the pitch,” he said. “I think there are some good young players coming through. Hopefully I can nurture them and be a bit of a role model to them. I honestly think there’s a lot of players in Nat One who can make the step up to the Championship, then into the Prem. You’ve only got to look at the last couple of years how many Premiership clubs have signed Championship players. I am fortunate I can play with the boys and coach them, it’s the best of both worlds.”
Perhaps more than any other player since Wasps made the Ricoh Arena their home, Johnson has immersed himself in the local Coventry and Warwickshire community. He is a regular face at Barkers Butts RFC, a grassroots Coventry club that honed the talents of internationals Tom Wood (England) and Jim Hamilton (Scotland), where one of his three sons play junior rugby. He has coached at Broadstreet RFC and most recently at Nuneaton Old Edwardians with fellow Wasp, Jimmy Gopperth.
“I owe a lot to Dai Young for giving me the opportunity and supporting me and helping me along my career,” he explained. “His wife April as well, they really played a big part in settling my family over here in the UK. I am fortunate and grateful for the opportunity he has given me and obviously Wasps as well.
“I enjoy Coventry, I’ll be dead honest. It reminds me from where I come from in South Africa. I really enjoyed the move. If it wasn’t a nice place I wouldn’t have stayed around here. I’ll still be going to the local games, it’s just who I
am.”